My enemies became my companions

Chapter 704 The Holy Maiden of the Demonic Cult
Where...did I go?
Yin Tingxue looked up, gazing at the surrounding scenery in a daze.

It was dark all around, with only a few outlines, as if she were trapped in a small space. She was extremely tired, her eyelids were drooping, but she couldn't keep them open.

What just happened...?

As if thrown from a great height, Yin Tingxue felt slightly dizzy. Upon recalling what had happened, she felt as if endless darkness had rolled in and instantly engulfed her...

Bang!

Suddenly, the space around her shook, almost causing her to fall.

A hand caught her just in time. Startled, Yin Tingxue looked up sharply and saw the face of a middle-aged woman in the dim light.

"Holy Maiden... the journey was a bit bumpy."

Saint...Saint...

Yin Tingxue was surprised. Where had she come to? Had she gone back, or...?

She glanced at it again, and her idea of ​​returning to the real world was instantly dispelled.

Before her was the carriage. She sat inside, the curtains drawn, seemingly listless. Only a few slivers of light filtered into the dimly lit carriage. There were several familiar faces inside, some with their eyes closed in rest, others silently chanting scriptures. But Yin Tingxue felt no sense of relief at having escaped the world of ignorance, because… these people were already dead.

She died a few years ago, on the day she left the capital.

And the fact that they are all appearing before her at this moment means that she has not yet left the world of ignorance, and what is before her is... a manifestation of her ignorance.

"Where is Chen Yi... where is he?"

Realizing that she had unconsciously uttered his name, Yin Tingxue felt as if her tongue had touched boiling water. Although they were working together temporarily, she could not and would not get too close to this person.

Even if he wasn't really Chen Yi, the feud between the two remained, and there was no end to it.

If she hadn't been deeply mired in ignorance, Yin Tingxue would have personally killed this illusion once again.

The debt of grudges never ends with death. This was the first principle Yin Tingxue understood after joining the sect, and it was also a consensus in the martial arts world.

Therefore, killing one person often means killing the whole family.

The carriage swayed and bumped along the way. Yin Tingxue looked up and looked around. She didn't want to linger here and was about to get up when the woman next to her suddenly grabbed her.

"Holy Maiden, where are you going?"

Yin Tingxue subconsciously tried to circulate her inner energy, but found that her true energy was not flowing smoothly, and her meridians were blocked, making it impossible for her to break free.

Her pupils contracted slightly.

Unlike before...

After the tide of ignorance overwhelmed her, she suddenly lost all her martial arts skills. Upon closer inspection, her hands and feet also seemed much more rudimentary than before.

The abundant true energy she had gained from cultivating within the Divine Sect was now completely gone, with only a faint trace flowing through her meridians, a feeling she knew all too well.

That year, her bridge to immortality had just been destroyed.

The woman pulled Yin Tingxue back to her seat. Although her manners were respectful, there was a hint of wariness in her eyes, as if she was afraid that Yin Tingxue would run away.

Yin Tingxue sat back down helplessly, momentarily lost in thought.

She couldn't help but recall distant memories.
What happened that day?
The rain pattered lightly on the roof of the carriage, the pattering sound tiring, but the swaying of the wheels hitting pebbles jolted her awake. In the bumpy carriage, she felt as if she had become that fifteen-year-old girl again.

Confused and restless.

The carriage was unusually quiet and oppressive. The air we all breathed mingled together. We squeezed through the windows and were enveloped in the stagnant moisture. Outside, the sound of rain grew louder.

Yin Tingxue tried to recall what had happened that day.

only……

Can not remember.

I just can't remember...

She couldn't remember. She clearly remembered many things from her childhood, but today she couldn't remember them at all, only some vague impressions, like...

Yin Tingxue tried hard to recall, but her head was throbbing. In a daze, she realized something: the erosion of the ignorant world on her was getting deeper.

I was aware of it, but I couldn't instinctively feel any sense of vigilance.

She seemed to have become a part of the world of ignorance. After the tide receded, she was immersed in this world of ignorance, vaguely indistinguishable from her fifteen-year-old self.

Yin Tingxue looked out the window, confused.

Where is she going?
Gao, Gaoliang Mountain... what kind of place is that...?

Is it really a sacred mountain?
Not long ago, her bridge to immortality was broken, and she was about to fall into prison. Now she has finally been rescued by a group of people from the demonic sect. However, the girl does not feel like she has survived a disaster. She is just confused and bewildered.

Her home is gone.

Yintai Temple is so far away, I might not be able to come back in the future.

Although the carriage was cramped, it was so dark that she couldn't tell where the boundary was. The darkness seemed to stretch on endlessly, leaving her all alone in the darkness.

After an unknown amount of time, the carriage slowly came to a stop, as if someone was blocking the way ahead.

The carriage was knocked on, the tapping sound particularly clear in the rainy night, carrying an unquestionable official air.

A slightly hoarse voice came from outside the carriage: "Who is out at night during curfew? Do you have any documents?" The atmosphere inside the carriage instantly tensed up.

Yin Tingxue could feel the woman beside her stiffen slightly, while the other members of the cult, who seemed to be resting with their eyes closed, had silently placed their hands on their hidden weapons, and a faint smell of blood filled the air.

The executioner elder of the Demonic Sect lifted a corner of the curtain from the front carriage, leaned out halfway, and put on an almost obsequious smile: "Sir, you've worked hard. We are Taoists from the Xuandu Temple outside the city. Due to an urgent matter at the temple, we need to leave the city overnight. This is a specially approved ordination certificate. Please do us a favor."

He handed over a document stamped with a large vermilion seal.

By the dim light of the lantern hanging beside the carriage shaft, the captain of the officers and soldiers carefully inspected the carriage, and then glanced at the several silent carriages behind it.

After a careful inspection, the captain of the officers and soldiers found no flaws and waved his hand: "Special approval from the Eastern Depot. Let it go! Be careful on the road, it's slippery in this rainy night."

The carriage curtain fell, shutting out the damp, cold air outside and the scrutinizing gazes of the officers and soldiers.

A few barely audible sighs of relief echoed through the carriage as tense muscles relaxed slightly. Four or five carriages started moving again, rolling over the wet dirt road and slowly driving out of the majestic gates of the capital.

The situation was resolved without serious harm, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Through the crack in the car window, Yin Tingxue watched the familiar, blurry yet massive outline of the city wall gradually recede into the distance, finally disappearing into the darkness. A strange sense of emptiness gripped her; the capital, the Prince Xiang's mansion, Yintai Temple, and even the maple tree she often leaned on in the temple, and the Bodhisattva sister… all were getting further and further away.

"Will we... come back?" she murmured, her voice so soft it seemed she was asking herself, or perhaps the woman beside her.

Seeing the girl's dejected state, the woman comforted her, saying that once she went up the mountain and learned martial arts, she could come back and take revenge on those who had hurt her.

"Revenge?" Yin Tingxue's delicate eyebrows furrowed, a hint of fear appearing on her face. "How terrifying..."

My mother always recited Buddhist scriptures. She often said that revenge only leads to endless cycles of retribution, and that letting go brings true freedom. Those gentle voices still echoed in my ears, yet the word "revenge" remained instinctively foreign to her.

Seeing this, the woman tentatively asked her, "For example, don't you hate the person who interrupted your bridge to immortality?"

The image of that cold-faced figure in flying fish robes suddenly flashed into her mind, accompanied by the heart-wrenching pain of the Bridge of Immortality breaking. Yin Tingxue shivered and her face paled.

After a long while, she slowly nodded.

Do I hate it? Of course I hate it.

How could she not hate the pain that pushed her further into the abyss? Not just that person, but also those indifferent onlookers, those who kicked her while she was down, and... the Empress Dowager in Jingren Palace, who was high and mighty, whose decree had destroyed her family...

There are many who want revenge.

The carriage traveled through the night rain, the sound of wheels mingling with the sound of rain.

Yin Tingxue felt drowsy but couldn't fall asleep.

The jolting of the train carriage, the noise of the rain, and the faint, menacing aura emanating from the people around her all made her uneasy.

She felt unfamiliar with everything around her—the faces of the believers who claimed to have come to rescue her and take her to the holy mountain, the cramped carriage, and the seemingly distant Gaoliang Mountain—all seemed shrouded in mist, utterly foreign.

Only the middle-aged woman beside her, whose eyes held not only respect but also a gentle concern similar to that of a mother that she hadn't felt in a long time, made her feel a little at ease.

The woman seemed to sense her unease and gently advised, "Holy Maiden, go to sleep quickly, close your eyes and rest. When you wake up, you'll be almost at Gaoliang Mountain."

"Really?" Yin Tingxue looked up, a hint of dependence she herself didn't realize. She was too tired, both physically and mentally exhausted, and longed for a place where she could close her eyes in peace.

The woman nodded, her voice softening further: "Yes, I'm not lying to you. Things will be fine once we get to the mountain."

Upon hearing these words, Yin Tingxue's tense heartstrings relaxed slightly. After suffering for so many days, she finally felt like she had survived a disaster, and sleepiness immediately overwhelmed her.

She softly hummed in agreement, wearily closing her eyes, thinking that perhaps she really could put everything aside for now, get some sleep, and then a new life would begin...

Whoosh!
"Okay... then I'll go to sleep..."

Before the word "sleep" could even land, a sharp, piercing sound suddenly rang out.

Yin Tingxue's face suddenly flushed, and blood splattered everywhere.

She instinctively opened her eyes, and what came into view was the woman who had just been gently comforting her. Now, her eyes were wide open, and a hideous bloody hole was gushing blood from her throat. The tip of a fine steel crossbow bolt was piercing through her neck.

The woman's body stiffened for a moment, then slowly and heavily fell backward, hitting the carriage wall with a dull thud.

A crossbow bolt pierced a hole in the carriage curtain, and icy rain and an even colder killing intent instantly poured in.

After a brief silence, a roar of alarm and anger erupted outside the carriage, along with the piercing sound of weapons being drawn.

"Enemy attack! The Imperial Guards have betrayed us! Be careful!"

"Saint Protector!"

The carriage jolted violently, like a startled wild beast, and began to lurch and turn wildly, trying to evade the impending attack.

However, more crossbow bolts came raining down like a storm, the sound of them pounding against the wooden planks of the carriage echoing incessantly, interspersed with muffled groans and screams.

Yin Tingxue stood frozen in place, the warm blood on her face rapidly turning cold and sticky.

She looked at the woman who had instantly lost her life, at the eyes that had once shown concern now empty and lifeless, and her mind went blank.

The slight warmth of surviving the ordeal was completely shattered by this sudden turn of events.

Blood, death...revenge...

Is this... the day the Holy Maiden of the Demonic Cult is about to face?

The rain poured down on the blood.
Outside the car window, shouts of battle erupted.

(End of this chapter)